440 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



By associating the teaching of arithmetic and English with construc- 

 tive woi-k, the interest of the child would be stimulated and his educa- 

 tion would be more closely directed to the subject of study. Moreover, 

 he would not only acquire habits of accuracy by careful observation and 

 manual exercise, but would learn to use number as an instrument of 

 exact measurement, and, by describing what he had seen and done, to 

 express his ideas in clear and intelligible language. Reform is much 

 needed in the teaching of these two subjects. Too much time is spent in 

 teaching rules and processes which are seldom needed and which are far 

 in advance of other subjects of more immediate value. The ease with 

 which the results of arithmetical work may be tested by teachers, 

 examiners, and inspectors, has had the effect of exaggerating its import- 

 ance, when pursued beyond its mere elements, and of encouraging practice 

 in the working of complicated exercises of no possible practical value. 

 It is in the teaching of arithmetic that the greatest reform is needed. 

 The exercises should be closely connected with drawing and with measure- 

 ment, and questions involving money calculations should be definite and 

 concrete and have reference to the cost of materials with which the pupil 

 is already familiar. There is no need for the use of any text-book. The 

 things by which the child is surrounded and the questions arising out of 

 the work with which he is practically engaged afford abundant oppor- 

 tunities of illustrating the simple processes which are all that the child 

 need learn at this stage of his studies. 



The ordinary English studies may be similarly modified and curtailed. 

 Transcription, spelling, writing, and dictation should all be included 

 under the head of composition. Grammar, as ordinarily taught, may be 

 regarded as altogether unnecessary and useless. The learning of history 

 should be associated with geography, and although some systematic 

 instruction may be desirable, much of what is most needful may be 

 taught incidentally. The reading lessons should be so chosen as to 

 impart a knowledge of national history and to excite the child's curiosity 

 to know more, and for a certain time a child should be left among books, 

 free to read what he likes, describing afterwards what he has read. 

 Reading aloud should be cultivated, and composititm should be taught 

 not by requiring the child to write essays on subjects about which he 

 knows next to nothing, but by describing things he has seen, events in 

 which he has taken part, or work which he has done. By thus associat- 

 ing the teaching of arithmetic and English subjects with practical 

 studies, which keep the child actively occupied — always putting forth 

 energy, instead of passively taking in facts — time would be found for 

 constructive work and careful observation, and the results of elementary 

 education, instead of being, as they now are, too often fleeting and 

 aimless, would create in the child permanent aptitudes for further study 

 and activities which would prove of the utmost value in his subsequent 

 work. 



It may be said that in such a scheme of elementary education there 

 would be no uniformity. Possibly not. But uniformity is not in itself 

 an end to be aimed at. The uniformity ideal cramps the initiative of the 

 teacher. There is ground for apprehension that the organisation of 

 secondary education under State control may tend to destroy that variety 

 and diversity of method which has its distinct advantages. The character 

 of the teaching in elementary schools must vary with local requirements 

 and surroundings. This fact is undoubtedly recognised in the Govern- 



